Innehållsförteckning för January 15, 2022 från Kovels Antique Trader

1. Captain America’s movie shield sold for a Marvel-ous $259,540 at Hake’s Auctions in November. 2. Original Ted Hake Americana & Collectibles button. Hake started his auction business in 1967. 3. Gangster Al Capone’s monogrammed Patek Philippe pocket watch sold for $229,900 at Witherell’s last fall. 4. A lady head vase dubbed the “Ghost Girl” by collectors is worth about $275. 5. A Napier charm bracelet from the 1950s. 6. Wing lounge chair designed by Vladimir Kagan, 1970s, valued at $10,000. 7. An ancient Chinese bowl from the 1400s bought at a yard sale for $35 sold for more than $700,000 at Sotheby’s. 8. A Super Mario 64 video game sold for $1.56 million at Heritage Auctions. 9. An NFT (non-fungible token) of Chris Torres wildly popular Nyan Cat, an…

It pays to be ›exible during a pandemic. And as such, PAUL LEFKOVITZ, the convention coordinator for the Antique Advertising Association of America, would make a gymnast jealous. In 2020, facing the threat of canceling its annual convention because of the pandemic, the AAAA held a virtual convention with great success. There were concerns that senior members of the group wouldn’t be interested in an online, Zoom-based get-together. But those concerns were misplaced. With Lefkovitz leading the charge, the group ›ipped over the virtual experience. Last summer, the convention was yet again cancelled because their site hotel was sold and closed for renovations. No worries, Lefkovitz and his members somersaulted into another virtual convention. This summer, Lefkovitz and the club are limbering up once more for an in-person convention.…

In the latter half of the 19th century, there were limited job opportunities for people with disabilities, so when he carved his career path, Andrew Clemens turned to the hobby he enjoyed during his summer vacations from school — sand art. A self-taught folk artist, Clemens’ delicate craftsmanship of his sand art, contained in small apothecary bottles, is desired by collectors and some examples sell at auction for six figures. Four of these bottles, in fact, set world records in 2021, on the heels of another record-breaking bottle in late 2020. During Skinner Auctioneer’s online Americana sale in November, three of Clemens’ sand bottles sold for a total of nearly $1.8 million, a record for sand bottles sold in a single sale, and two of them sold for more than…

Everyone who’s been close to me knows I’ve always lived and breathed airplanes. Whether it be working on them, flying them, photographing them, writing about them, or reading about them, airplanes have always been part of my life. What everyone doesn’t know is that I’ve also had a passion for trains; I was just too busy dealing with airplanes to bring trains into my life, except for one semester in college when I took an Intermodal Transportation course (air/sea/land/rail) while earning a degree in Air Commerce/Transportation Technology. Now that I’m retired and spending about a third of each year touring the country in a travel trailer, I’ve got plenty of time to explore train museums and rail yards. I also recently bought a vintage N-scale (1:160) model train set at…

A bitter divorce resulted in the most astounding collection to come to auction this year — and ever. The art collection of real-estate billionaire Harry Macklowe and his museum trustee ex-wife, Linda, full of fresh-to-market masterpieces by the most important artists of the last 80 years, achieved a landmark and eye-popping $676.1 million when it was sold by Sotheby’s in November, making it the most valuable single-owner auction of all time and the most valuable auction ever held at the house. The 35 lots offered were expected to bring $444 million to $619 million. Every single one sold. Acquired over the course of half a century, the Macklowe Collection, which includes 30 additional works, reflects decades of pursuit, honing and refining, driven by immense patience and an innate understanding of…

TED HAKE, like the others profiled over the next several pages, left a lasting impression on us in 2021. Collector, historian and author, Hake was at the forefront of the pop culture collecting craze, starting his auction business Hake’s Americana & Collectibles in the late 1960s. “As a collector of many things since age five,” Hake says, “I’ve always appreciated the look or story behind what I collected. Everything I ever collected was a thrill. My motivation naturally expanded from finding things that pleased me [to] finding things that thrilled other people.” Ted Hake with 1930s Mickey and Minnie Mouse display dolls.…

The memories come tumbling back like so many falling dominoes picking up speed, fast becoming blurred moments in motion until – splat! – they stop with a sudden click in 1976 when The Poster was first spotted in a buddy’s bedroom. A year later it was everywhere. Bedrooms. College dorm rooms. Garages. You could find The Poster plastered anywhere and everywhere: Cascading blonde hair, impossibly white teeth and a perky, sun-kissed face framed by a red swimsuit. The suit was modest, revealing just enough to mesmerize. If you were there, you could never forget when Farrah Fawcett arrived. The best-selling pinup poster of all time cemented the deal. From that moment on, no one bothered with her full name. It was simply ... Farrah. With her wholesome, girl-next-door sex appeal,…

The market for vintage video games exploded in 2021, with a Super Mario 64 game selling for a world-record $1.56 million. “I have never once doubted the potential of this market,” said VALARIE MCLECKIE, Heritage Auctions Director of Video Games, “but I don’t think anyone would have thought it would develop to this degree as quickly as it has.” Doubt the market if you want, but McLeckie, a lifelong gamer and collector, is confident record-breaking sales are the new norm for video games.…

TO call southern Californian blogger Janey Ellis, 33, an old soul, would be an understatement. Ever since she was a kid, she’s relished everything Victorian, Old Hollywood and mid-century modern, ranging from clothing and home furnishings to music and film. Through her blog Atomic Redhead, Ellis writes about her take on vintage fashions, offers tips, guides and reviews, plus shares history lessons about “fun and weird” things. With plenty of historic sites to explore in her own backyard (she lives just about a mile from Disneyland), Ellis documents her experiences living the vintage life. She was born in Oregon to antique dealer parents who encouraged her love of the past and nurtured her eclectic taste. Her style icons growing up included TV sitcom characters Marilyn Munster from “The Munsters” and…